Welcome Parents, Grandparents and Caregivers!

The topic for today is ABA or Applied Behavior Analysis. I am going to share some basic information in this post as this topic can get very technical. I am looking forward to answering any questions you may have.

Applied Behavior Analysis is the gold standard in the treatment of individuals with autism. . ABA therapy makes teaching new skills to your child easy by breaking complex skills into smaller skill sets.

ABA has proved to be the single most effective and the only evidence-based treatment that has proved success in showing significant behavior changes that are socially meaningful. Simply put, ABA is a scientific approach to understand behavior. ABA analyses the relationship between behavior and the environment in which it occurs. It deals with changing the environment to bring a change in the behavior.

This treatment is effective in reducing behaviors that are harmful or less adaptable and increasing the behaviors which are beneficial to a person. With the use of interventions and methodologies which have been studied for over 40 years ABA therapy can reduce challenging behaviors of your child. At the same time it can teach your child socially appropriate behaviors (replacement behaviors) instead of challenging behaviors.

ABA therapy addresses many areas of behavior change including social skills, sharing, turn taking, staying on task, using words/sounds to communicate, staying on task, daily living skills(brushing teeth, getting dressed, tying shoe laces, toilet training, food habits, engagement with academic tasks, regulating emotions etc.

This treatment can be delivered in a variety of settings depending on your child’s needs, such as , in your home, or in your child’s school and classroom, day care or after school and even in soccer camp if so needed. Most insurance companies cover ABA therapy and includes parent training and education. Your pediatrician can recommend this. The treatment usually begins with consultation and assessment which includes parent interviews, questionnaires and a Functional Behavior Assessment or FBA. This includes observing your child in his environment to gather data on challenging behaviors. The next phase involves developing an individualized treatment plan based on the areas of need identified by the FBA and parent input. The behavior treatment plan is customized for your child and the goals for development are decided based on parent input, observation and assessment. ABA therapy is delivered by a team including a behavior therapist who works directly with your child and a supervisor, who is a behavior specialist certified by the Board of Behavior Analysis. Depending on the needs identified during assessment your child may be eligible for therapy from 10 hours a week to 40 hours a week.

A very crucial component of ABA therapy is parent training and regular analysis of the progress your child has made. The therapist collects data during daily therapy sessions to monitor your child’s progress on the goals identified in the behavior treatment plan. The behavior specialist shares this with you quarterly (or more frequently as needed) in the form of graphs included in the progress report which is provided to the parents.

ABA  is effective because of many reasons, first and foremost, it allows your child to develop and practice new skills. Once this ne skill is in place, ABA therapy helps your child go to the next level and subsequently to the next level. When your child has met the initial goal on his behavior treatment plan, new goals are added to keep your child progress steady, consistent and cumulative.  For a young child who does not sit and play with any toy in his house but touches many things and moves from one toy in the room to another in a matter of seconds, a goal like this would be a part of his behavior treatment plan.

Goal 1: By  (date) , XYZ will engage functionally with a preferred object for up to 1 minute  with no more than 1 prompt in 4 out of 5 opportunities per session.

When Goal 1 is met by your child, it will be replaced with a new goal which may look like:

Goal 1: By (date) , XYZ will engage functionally with a preferred object for up to 2 minute  with no more than 1 prompt in 4 out of 5 opportunities per session.

When this goal is met by your child, it may be changed to 3 minutes or 5 minutes and go progressively to 10 minutes or 20 minutes in systematic increments.

Notice this is only goal number 1, there may be so many other goals in the behavior treatment plan for your child depending on the areas of need identified during the assessment. In a school setting, a goal may look like the one below.

Behavior treatment plans may include areas of development such as attention span ( as above), social skills( sharing, eye contact, verbal greeting), verbal behavior( learning new sounds, words), emotional regulation( asking for help, taking deep breaths, asking for break), and many more. All goals will follow the same pattern as described above and build on the progress of your child in a systematic way on the basis of analysis of data collected during daily ABA sessions. This is the beauty of this scientific treatment. Also, the best part is that you, the parent is involved in the process right from the beginning. You can choose to be as involved as you desire.

 It is recommended to receive this treatment as early as possible to receive maximum benefit for your child and family. Many school districts have a team of Behavior Specialists on staff who can address the Social/Emotional or Behavior Goals for your child’s Individualized Education Plan (IEP). If your child is receiving ABA services at school, a goal that may be part of his behavior treatment plan (depends on needs identified during assessment of each child) may look like this one below:

Goal 1: By (date), XYZ will stay on task (seated and working on task) for up to 15 minutes with no more than 1 prompt in 4 out of 5 opportunities during a class/period.

The ultimate goal of ABA treatment is to meet the need and goals identified in the initial assessment and it usually results in children being more aware and responsive to others around them, being to able to communicate their needs to others in effective ways, reducing self-harm behaviors (head banging, scratching, etc) and challenging behaviors such as tantrums, biting, kicking etc. Increase in independence with daily living skills such as, dressing up, putting on socks, shoes, tying shoe laces, potty training, tooth brushing etc may be a part of the behavior treatment plan if that is an area of need that was identified during assessment. It is important to have a knowledgeable and experienced team and maintain good communication between all team players for maximizing the benefit from therapy.

As I have said before, my purpose is to keep you informed and I am keen to hear of topics you would like me to address. So don’t be shy, post your comments and share your questions, let me know what you want to hear about and always believe in yourself coz’ YOU CAN DO IT.